1 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:07,520 Speaker 1: Welcomed Aaron Manky's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of I 2 00:00:07,600 --> 00:00:14,240 Speaker 1: Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is full 3 00:00:14,320 --> 00:00:17,960 Speaker 1: of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, 4 00:00:18,239 --> 00:00:21,600 Speaker 1: all of these amazing tales are right there on display, 5 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:27,560 Speaker 1: just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet 6 00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:39,520 Speaker 1: of Curiosities. The British Royal family sure does love it's ceremonies. 7 00:00:39,720 --> 00:00:42,480 Speaker 1: For example, the late Queen Elizabeth birthday has been marked 8 00:00:42,520 --> 00:00:44,920 Speaker 1: each year by something called the Trooping of the Color. 9 00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:49,319 Speaker 1: Every June, four hundred soldiers, four hundred musicians and two 10 00:00:49,400 --> 00:00:52,680 Speaker 1: hundred horses marched through the streets from Buckingham Palace to 11 00:00:52,800 --> 00:00:55,720 Speaker 1: horse Guards Parade. The Royal Air Force even makes an 12 00:00:55,720 --> 00:00:59,200 Speaker 1: appearance as their planes fly overhead. It's a massive spectacle. 13 00:00:59,560 --> 00:01:02,720 Speaker 1: Much like Garter Day, Guard Day honors those who have 14 00:01:02,720 --> 00:01:05,800 Speaker 1: gained entry into the most noble Order of the Garter, 15 00:01:06,080 --> 00:01:08,880 Speaker 1: an order of knighthood founded in thirteen forty eight by 16 00:01:08,959 --> 00:01:11,720 Speaker 1: King Edward the Third. For the modern day ceremony, the 17 00:01:11,720 --> 00:01:14,120 Speaker 1: monarch and knights, all decked out in velvet robes and 18 00:01:14,160 --> 00:01:17,720 Speaker 1: plumed hats, marched from Windsor Castle to St George's Chapel, 19 00:01:18,080 --> 00:01:21,560 Speaker 1: a service is held and new night companions are inducted 20 00:01:21,600 --> 00:01:24,800 Speaker 1: into the order. The ceremonies are part of England's long 21 00:01:24,840 --> 00:01:27,959 Speaker 1: and storied history, dating back hundreds of years, but there's 22 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:30,800 Speaker 1: one annual activity that does more than honor those within 23 00:01:30,880 --> 00:01:33,800 Speaker 1: the royal family's inner circle. In fact, it serves a 24 00:01:33,920 --> 00:01:37,600 Speaker 1: very specific and much needed purpose. It all started eight 25 00:01:37,640 --> 00:01:41,080 Speaker 1: hundred years ago during the Middle Ages. Swans were considered 26 00:01:41,080 --> 00:01:44,200 Speaker 1: a versatile bird in England. Not only did ownership of 27 00:01:44,240 --> 00:01:47,080 Speaker 1: them signify a person's status in society, but they were 28 00:01:47,120 --> 00:01:50,720 Speaker 1: also really tasty. They were often served around Christmas time 29 00:01:50,760 --> 00:01:53,520 Speaker 1: as part of the royal feasts. Henry the Third fed 30 00:01:53,560 --> 00:01:57,680 Speaker 1: his guests forty swans during his holiday parties in twelve 31 00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:01,800 Speaker 1: The swan, specifically the mute swan, was first brought to 32 00:02:01,840 --> 00:02:04,960 Speaker 1: Britain by Richard the First during the Crusades. At least 33 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:08,280 Speaker 1: that's how the story goes. Ornithologists, however, believed the swan 34 00:02:08,400 --> 00:02:11,760 Speaker 1: is indigenous to the region. Swans were the livestock of 35 00:02:11,800 --> 00:02:14,080 Speaker 1: the rich, and the government went to great lengths to 36 00:02:14,120 --> 00:02:17,440 Speaker 1: protect both the animals and the status they signified. In 37 00:02:17,520 --> 00:02:20,720 Speaker 1: fourteen eighty two, the Crown introduced the swan mark, a 38 00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:24,120 Speaker 1: series of nicks carved into the beaks to denote ownership. 39 00:02:24,600 --> 00:02:27,160 Speaker 1: According to the law at the time, only the truly 40 00:02:27,200 --> 00:02:30,239 Speaker 1: wealthy were allowed to own these majestic birds, and were 41 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:34,000 Speaker 1: required to purchase swan marks at a steep price. Any 42 00:02:34,040 --> 00:02:37,880 Speaker 1: swan lacking a swan mark on its beak, regardless of ownership, 43 00:02:38,080 --> 00:02:41,880 Speaker 1: officially belonged to the crown. The courts grew packed with 44 00:02:41,960 --> 00:02:46,280 Speaker 1: ownership disputes, as well as people defending themselves against accusations 45 00:02:46,320 --> 00:02:50,200 Speaker 1: of defacing property. Anyone who tried to carve or scratch 46 00:02:50,240 --> 00:02:53,359 Speaker 1: away at a swan mark or counterfeit their own could 47 00:02:53,440 --> 00:02:58,120 Speaker 1: face serious jail time. Unsurprisingly, the rich didn't buy the 48 00:02:58,160 --> 00:03:01,520 Speaker 1: birds because they enjoyed looking at them or even eating them. 49 00:03:01,560 --> 00:03:04,680 Speaker 1: To own a swan, especially more than one, meant a 50 00:03:04,720 --> 00:03:08,120 Speaker 1: person was of a higher status than everyone else. But 51 00:03:08,200 --> 00:03:11,120 Speaker 1: swans were only valuable if they were healthy, and the 52 00:03:11,200 --> 00:03:13,960 Speaker 1: royal family, the Windsors, have taken the health of their 53 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:17,800 Speaker 1: swans seriously for hundreds of years. They began an annual 54 00:03:17,800 --> 00:03:21,600 Speaker 1: tradition called swan upping, which one member of the family 55 00:03:21,760 --> 00:03:25,079 Speaker 1: joins a team of people called swan uppers to row 56 00:03:25,160 --> 00:03:28,880 Speaker 1: canoes up and down the Thames, collecting swans and checking 57 00:03:28,960 --> 00:03:31,840 Speaker 1: up on their well being. A swan upping is still 58 00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:34,040 Speaker 1: practiced to this day too, usually at the end of 59 00:03:34,120 --> 00:03:37,680 Speaker 1: July each year. The swan uppers, clad in scarlet rowing 60 00:03:37,720 --> 00:03:41,680 Speaker 1: shirts and white slacks, row along the Thames for five days. 61 00:03:41,760 --> 00:03:45,760 Speaker 1: Upon spotting a female swan and her signets or baby swans, 62 00:03:45,800 --> 00:03:48,360 Speaker 1: a cry of all up is heard and the boat's 63 00:03:48,360 --> 00:03:51,320 Speaker 1: head to their position. The uppers then weigh the bird 64 00:03:51,480 --> 00:03:54,960 Speaker 1: and notes any maladies or injuries, especially among the signets. 65 00:03:55,280 --> 00:03:57,960 Speaker 1: Signets are of course more vulnerable than the adults and 66 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:00,960 Speaker 1: often need greater care. Signats are tagged with I D 67 00:04:01,160 --> 00:04:04,600 Speaker 1: numbers that track their ownership based on parentage. But any 68 00:04:04,680 --> 00:04:07,760 Speaker 1: swans owned by the crown are left alone, and just 69 00:04:07,920 --> 00:04:10,680 Speaker 1: as was the rule hundreds of years ago, the Queen 70 00:04:10,880 --> 00:04:13,600 Speaker 1: or king has the right to claim ownership of any 71 00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:17,679 Speaker 1: unmarked mute swans found in open waters. Today, the swan 72 00:04:17,760 --> 00:04:20,680 Speaker 1: upping ritual isn't about social status or even the royal 73 00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:24,920 Speaker 1: family exercising their control over the local animal population. It's 74 00:04:24,960 --> 00:04:28,919 Speaker 1: about conservation and education. Swan upping protects the lives of 75 00:04:28,920 --> 00:04:32,840 Speaker 1: Britain's wild swans. School children are invited to participate each 76 00:04:32,920 --> 00:04:35,359 Speaker 1: year as a way to introduce them to the importance 77 00:04:35,640 --> 00:04:40,040 Speaker 1: of environmental conservation. Sure, some of the Crown ceremonies may 78 00:04:40,080 --> 00:04:44,120 Speaker 1: look like ostentageous pageantry, but swan upping has evolved into 79 00:04:44,160 --> 00:04:46,760 Speaker 1: something more than that. It's a tool for protecting the 80 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:50,400 Speaker 1: future of England's wildlife and teaching children to do the same, 81 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:53,960 Speaker 1: because not saving the planet, well that's for the birds. 82 00:05:08,080 --> 00:05:10,520 Speaker 1: When you get right down to it, Almost all important 83 00:05:10,560 --> 00:05:14,239 Speaker 1: life decisions are centered around money. Where you go to college, 84 00:05:14,320 --> 00:05:16,560 Speaker 1: what kind of car you drive, what kind of town 85 00:05:16,640 --> 00:05:18,479 Speaker 1: you live in, and what kind of house you move 86 00:05:18,520 --> 00:05:21,560 Speaker 1: into are all predicated on the amount you have to spend. 87 00:05:22,240 --> 00:05:25,880 Speaker 1: After the stock market crash of nineteen nine, everyone started 88 00:05:25,920 --> 00:05:30,159 Speaker 1: pinching pennies. Breadlines formed around corners and down city blocks. 89 00:05:30,520 --> 00:05:33,680 Speaker 1: People lost their homes and jobs, companies shut down, and 90 00:05:33,720 --> 00:05:38,880 Speaker 1: the country entered a tailspin. Certain administrative projects, even relatively 91 00:05:38,920 --> 00:05:42,599 Speaker 1: inexpensive ones, were canceled, such as the maintenance and upkeep 92 00:05:42,680 --> 00:05:46,880 Speaker 1: of small cemeteries around the country. But one enterprising homeowner 93 00:05:46,960 --> 00:05:49,440 Speaker 1: knew just how to keep the tombstones of an important 94 00:05:49,440 --> 00:05:53,160 Speaker 1: Civil War cemetery shining for all to see. And inject 95 00:05:53,240 --> 00:05:56,440 Speaker 1: some much needed stimulus money into the government in the process. 96 00:05:57,080 --> 00:06:00,080 Speaker 1: It all started on June fifteenth, eighteen sixty four, in 97 00:06:00,120 --> 00:06:03,960 Speaker 1: the city of Petersburg, Virginia. Only months earlier, Ulysses S. 98 00:06:04,040 --> 00:06:06,920 Speaker 1: Grant had been promoted to lieutenant General of the Union Army. 99 00:06:07,320 --> 00:06:09,880 Speaker 1: His goal was to attack the south from several different 100 00:06:09,880 --> 00:06:13,160 Speaker 1: angles in an effort to capture Richmond, Virginia, the capital 101 00:06:13,320 --> 00:06:17,640 Speaker 1: of the Confederacy. Grants was facing troubles as the various 102 00:06:17,720 --> 00:06:20,039 Speaker 1: armies under his command were being led by generals that 103 00:06:20,080 --> 00:06:23,280 Speaker 1: had been appointed to him for political reasons. These men 104 00:06:23,320 --> 00:06:26,039 Speaker 1: were not experienced in the art of war, and so 105 00:06:26,160 --> 00:06:31,799 Speaker 1: they lost often, but Grant pushed on, never surrendering, never retreating. 106 00:06:32,040 --> 00:06:34,960 Speaker 1: He continued to advance his position against Robert E. Lee's 107 00:06:35,040 --> 00:06:37,880 Speaker 1: forces as he worked his way towards Richmond. The city 108 00:06:37,880 --> 00:06:40,560 Speaker 1: of Petersburg was essential to his plan as it was 109 00:06:40,640 --> 00:06:43,600 Speaker 1: home to a junction point where five different railroads met. 110 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:47,520 Speaker 1: Capturing Petersburg meant cutting off supply and communication routes for 111 00:06:47,520 --> 00:06:51,920 Speaker 1: the Confederates, forcing Lee to surrender Richmond or fight Grant 112 00:06:51,960 --> 00:06:55,320 Speaker 1: out in the open. From June fift until the eighteenth, 113 00:06:55,520 --> 00:06:58,279 Speaker 1: the troops under General p. G. T. Beauregard of the 114 00:06:58,320 --> 00:07:01,320 Speaker 1: seuth fended off the Federal Army of the North. Union 115 00:07:01,360 --> 00:07:05,000 Speaker 1: forces were unable to capture Petersburg as attended, but that 116 00:07:05,080 --> 00:07:08,240 Speaker 1: didn't stop them from trying. The Siege of Petersburg, as 117 00:07:08,240 --> 00:07:11,200 Speaker 1: it was called, lasted until March of the following year, 118 00:07:11,440 --> 00:07:14,320 Speaker 1: just over nine months. In the end, the Confederates could 119 00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:17,960 Speaker 1: not endure. Lee's forces were decimated, and the North captured 120 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:22,160 Speaker 1: Petersburg on the two weeks before Lee would officially surrender, 121 00:07:22,480 --> 00:07:24,920 Speaker 1: bringing an end to the war on April nine of 122 00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:29,280 Speaker 1: eighteen sixty five. Thousands died on each side, though the 123 00:07:29,280 --> 00:07:32,280 Speaker 1: siege cost the Union a far greater number of casualties 124 00:07:32,280 --> 00:07:35,680 Speaker 1: than it did the Confederacy. The Northern soldiers were buried 125 00:07:35,720 --> 00:07:39,880 Speaker 1: in Poplar Grove Cemetery in Petersburg, their graves identified by 126 00:07:39,920 --> 00:07:44,240 Speaker 1: wooden markers. Over time, however, those wooden grave markers disappeared. 127 00:07:44,640 --> 00:07:47,480 Speaker 1: Constant exposure to the elements caused them to rot and 128 00:07:47,520 --> 00:07:50,840 Speaker 1: fall away, leaving behind no trace of who was interred 129 00:07:50,960 --> 00:07:54,440 Speaker 1: six ft below. Eventually, though, the government stepped in and 130 00:07:54,520 --> 00:07:57,760 Speaker 1: had all the wooden grave markers replaced with marble headstones, 131 00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:01,360 Speaker 1: much sturdier than would As the years passed, the cemetery 132 00:08:01,400 --> 00:08:04,040 Speaker 1: continued to be maintained with the help of government funding, 133 00:08:04,120 --> 00:08:07,840 Speaker 1: keeping each headstone cleaned of dirt and standing perfectly upright. 134 00:08:08,400 --> 00:08:11,680 Speaker 1: And then the market crashed in twenty nine people lost everything. 135 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:15,000 Speaker 1: Belts needed to be tightened. That meant places like Poplar 136 00:08:15,040 --> 00:08:18,640 Speaker 1: Grove Cemetery where suddenly left to decline. To save money 137 00:08:18,680 --> 00:08:21,640 Speaker 1: and cut down on mowing, the city modified the gravestones 138 00:08:21,800 --> 00:08:24,760 Speaker 1: one more time. Each one was cut in half, with 139 00:08:24,920 --> 00:08:27,400 Speaker 1: the top halves the pieces engraved with the names of 140 00:08:27,400 --> 00:08:30,800 Speaker 1: each soldier placed flat on the ground. But what to 141 00:08:30,880 --> 00:08:33,640 Speaker 1: do with the blank bottom halves. Well, one man had 142 00:08:33,679 --> 00:08:36,760 Speaker 1: an idea. His name was Oswald Young, and in nineteen 143 00:08:36,800 --> 00:08:40,000 Speaker 1: thirty four he wanted to build a house in Petersburg, Virginia. 144 00:08:40,360 --> 00:08:43,920 Speaker 1: He purchased two thousand, two hundred discarded headstones for forty 145 00:08:43,960 --> 00:08:47,720 Speaker 1: five dollars a piece that was d dollars in nineteen 146 00:08:47,760 --> 00:08:50,880 Speaker 1: thirty five, which balloons to roughly one point two million 147 00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:55,160 Speaker 1: in today's money. The exterior walls, the walkway, and the 148 00:08:55,240 --> 00:08:58,480 Speaker 1: chimney were all built using the headstones, each a slightly 149 00:08:58,480 --> 00:09:02,000 Speaker 1: different color from the other. The patchwork construction gives the 150 00:09:02,040 --> 00:09:06,199 Speaker 1: home a stitch together Frankenstein's monster kind of look. If 151 00:09:06,200 --> 00:09:08,480 Speaker 1: these walls could talk, they would probably have a lot 152 00:09:08,520 --> 00:09:10,960 Speaker 1: to say about what happened during the Siege of Petersburg. 153 00:09:11,280 --> 00:09:14,280 Speaker 1: With two thousand, two hundred Union soldier gravestones used to 154 00:09:14,320 --> 00:09:17,360 Speaker 1: build a civilians house. I wouldn't be surprised if there 155 00:09:17,360 --> 00:09:20,040 Speaker 1: has been a ghost or two spotted shambling across the 156 00:09:20,120 --> 00:09:23,960 Speaker 1: lawn from time to time. After all, the tombstone House 157 00:09:24,000 --> 00:09:27,160 Speaker 1: of Petersburg would make a perfect haunted house at Halloween, 158 00:09:27,760 --> 00:09:35,280 Speaker 1: don't you think. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour 159 00:09:35,440 --> 00:09:39,520 Speaker 1: of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, 160 00:09:39,600 --> 00:09:43,119 Speaker 1: or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast 161 00:09:43,360 --> 00:09:47,120 Speaker 1: dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Manky 162 00:09:47,440 --> 00:09:50,920 Speaker 1: in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award 163 00:09:50,920 --> 00:09:54,520 Speaker 1: winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, 164 00:09:54,559 --> 00:09:57,160 Speaker 1: and television show, and you can learn all about it 165 00:09:57,240 --> 00:10:00,800 Speaker 1: over at the World of Lore dot com. And until 166 00:10:00,840 --> 00:10:02,760 Speaker 1: next time, stay curious.